Choir & Organ is the leading independent magazine for all professionals and amateurs in the choral and organ worlds – whether you are an organist, choral director or singer, organ builder, keen listener, or work in publishing or the record industry, Choir & Organ is a must-read wherever you live and work.

Every two months our expert contributors bring you beautifully illustrated features on newly built and restored organs, insights into the lives and views of leading organists, choral directors and composers, profiles of pioneering and well-established choirs, and topical coverage of new research, festivals and exhibitions. In keeping with our commitment to music at the cutting edge, we commission a new work from a young composer in every issue, making the score freely available for download and performance.

Our international news and previews, with breaking stories, key awards and forthcoming premieres, combine with reviews of the latest CDs, DVDs and sheet music, and listings of recitals, festivals and courses, to keep you up to date with events and developments around the world.

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Jacobs School of Music student wins national competition

18 July 2014

Jonathan Rudy with Janette Fishell

Jonathan Rudy, a student at
Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, has won the audience prize and first
prize at the National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance.

Rudy, a native of Batavia,
Illinois, said, ‘I was honoured to be competing in this event alongside such
high levels of performance ability and musical talent.’ His prize includes two
years of concert management and assistance in career development from Karen
McFarlane Artists.

A doctoral student in organ
and sacred music, Rudy has been learning with Janette Fishell, chair of the
Jacobs Organ Department, throughout his M.M. and D.M. studies at the school,
and has also studied improvisation with Bruce Neswick. Fishell commented: ‘From
the first lesson I gave Jonathan in his MM studies, I could sense that he had a
deep musicianship and a compelling vibrancy in his playing… he loves a
challenge and has embraced every learning curve with a positive attitude and
enormous commitment.’

The competition was held as
part of the biennial national convention of the American Guild of Organists on
June 23 in Boston.

Composer and C&O contributor Patric Standford dies aged 75

16 May 2014

Choir & Organ contributor and classical music critic Patric
Standford has died suddenly at the age of 75.

Patric Standford (born John
Gledhill in Barnsley in 1939, but adopted at the age of four following the
death of his mother) was introduced to classical music at Ackworth School.
Following National Service in the RAF, he went aged 22 to the Guildhall School
of Music in London. In 1964 he won the Mendelssohn Scholarship and studied with
Gianfrancesco Malipiero and Witold Lutoslawski in Venice and Warsaw
respectively.

From the late 1960s onwards,
Standford’s career as a composer soared, producing A String Quartet (1965), Notte
(1968), First Symphony (The Seasons);
Christus Requiem (1972), Christmas Carol Symphony (1978), Fifth Symphony (1985). This period also
saw his teaching career blossom: he became a Professor of Composition at the
Guildhall, taught from 1969 to 1980 and was made a Fellow in 1972. After
returning to his home county of Yorkshire, he became Head of Music at Bretton
Hall in 1980, retiring from the role in 1993. Standford continued to teach at
Huddersfield University until the death of his wife Sarah in 2011, after which
he moved to Suffolk.

Standford had a significant
presence in musical organisations, including a period as Chairman of the
Composers’ Guild of Great Britain, the British Music Information Centre and for
the Hinrichsen Foundation.

Standford continued to write,
compose and teach up until his sudden death on 23 April 2014.

Grahl named director of music at Peterborough Cathedral

16 May 2014

Steven Grahl is to succeed Robert Quinney as director of music at
Peterborough Cathedral. He will take up his new post in September 2014.

In addition to being organist and director of music at St Marylebone
Parish Church, London, and principal conductor of Guildford Chamber Choir,
since 2007 Mr Grahl has been assistant organist at New College, Oxford, to
which Quinney has just moved as director of music, following the retirement of
Edward Higginbottom.

The Very Revd Charles Taylor, Dean of Peterborough, said: ‘When Robert
was appointed to New College Oxford we knew he was going to one of the top
musical foundations in the country, so we are very pleased to have attracted
some traffic in the opposite direction! … Steven is a man of energy and vision
and we look forward to working with him.’

Steven Grahl is a prize-winning graduate of Magdalen College, Oxford,
and the Royal Academy of Music, of which he was elected an Associate in 2010.
He was an interpretation finalist in the International Organ Competitions at St
Albans (UK) in 2011, and in Dudelange (Luxembourg) in 2013. He is a Junior
Fellow of Birmingham Conservatoire, chairman of the Association of Assistant
Cathedral Organists, and a member of the Oxford University Faculty of Music.

St Albans launches 2015 Organ Competitions

14 May 2014

(from left) Stephen Boffey, chairman; The Right Worshipful the Mayor of St Albans City and District, Councillor Annie Brewster, and David Titterington, artistic director

On 9 May, the 2015 St Albans
International Organ Festival Competitions were launched in St Albans Old Town
Hall.

The competitions – in Interpretation and
Improvisation – are open to organists under the age of 33.

Following a recorded pre-selection round, the
Competitions will take place on 8–18 July 2015 and will be at the heart of a
multi-faceted international arts festival featuring classical music and music
from around the world, dance, jazz, talks, demonstrations and an art
exhibition.

Special features of the 2015 competition
are:

Interpretation Quarter-finalists
will perform a new work commissioned from the renowned composer Paul Patterson.

For the first time, there will
be a concerto final round for the Interpretation Competition, with the
celebrated orchestra Wiener Akademie, directed by Martin Haselböck.

Improvisers will perform ‘in
alternatim’ with sung chant and an array of percussion in the Semi-final
rounds.

For the first time, one round
of the Interpretation Semi-final will move to Christ Church, Spitalfields,
London and feature the recently restored 1735 Richard Bridge organ.

The recorded pre-selection round will be
adjudicated by French organist Eric Lebrun, Thomas Trotter and David
Titterington, the Festival’s artistic director; jury members for the finals in
July 2015 will be Michel Bouvard (France), Hans Davidsson (Sweden), Bernhard
Haas (Germany), Martin Haselböck (Austria), James O’Donnell (UK), Jakyung Oh
(South Korea) and Carole Terry (USA).

Royal School of Church Music reveals recipients of honorary awards for 2014

18 March 2014

Harry Christophers is to be awarded with a fellowship of the RSCM

The Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) has announced the recipients of this year’s honorary awards for outstanding contributions to church music.

Harry Christophers, founder and conductor of The Sixteen, is to be awarded with a fellowship of the RSCM for his work of bringing Renaissance church music in particular, back into the churches and cathedrals for which it was written.

Others who will also be awarded with RSCM fellowships include Dr Stephen Darlington, director of music at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, recognised for maintaining exemplary daily standards of service and performance; foundation dean of Liverpool Hope University and long-standing member of the RSCM council Dr Ian Sharp; and Professor JR (Dick) Watson, Emeritus Professor of English at Durham University, for his contribution to the editing of hymns.

Andrew Reid, Director of the RSCM says of this year’s honorary awards: ‘These awards are made to those who have given great service to church music, whether through the work of the RSCM, or in a number of other ways. I would like to thank everyone who submitted nominations of those whose contribution at local, area, national or international level too often goes unrecognised. We look forward to celebrating the work of this year’s recipients at our Celebration Day’.

The Celebration Day for 2014’s winners will take place at Hereford Cathedral on 4 October 2014. Recipients will be presented with their awards by chairman of the RSCM Council Lord Brian Gill. ‘It always gives me great pleasure to personally present these awards,’ Lord Gill says. ‘They are our annual opportunity to honour and thank those who have given distinguished service to the cause of church music and to RSCM in particular.’

For the full list of those to receive Honorary Awards from the Royal School of Church Music, visit the website.